


Colourful Words

by ListedThings



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Hurt, Light Angst, Scars, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 20:09:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21042047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ListedThings/pseuds/ListedThings
Summary: Damian has many scars, some he's proud of and some that he hates.





	Colourful Words

Damian didn't remember how or when he got his first scar. But he knew which one it was. The shallow but deep enough to scar cut that sat in the hollow of his throat. It was pale and not clearly visible, but it was still there. When he was younger, Mother used to stare at it all the time. He had asked her why once; she had told him to concentrate on his training and to make sure it never happened again in reply. He wasn't sure what she meant by never letting it happen again because he didn't remember the first time it had happened. 

His next scar he got when he met Grandfather. Damian had been six at the time, and he had been in absolute awe of the man back then. Grandfather had effortlessly taken care of the rogue bandits that had attempted to attack them. Damian flinched as Grandfather's slit one of the bandits' throats; his hand automatically going to clutch at the scar on his throat. He straightened immediately though, but Grandfather had already noticed.

"An al Ghul does not cower in fear or in the face of death, " he had said, his face contorted into one of anger as he walked up to Damian and slid out his dagger from its holster. "You are not an al Ghul yet, but you soon will be." He then proceeded to cut Damian's palm. 

It hurt but Damian didn't - wouldn't - let it show. He would make Grandfather proud; he would make Mother proud. He would do everything that would be asked of him. And he would earn their acceptance and their respect. He would earn his place in the al Ghul family line even if it meant bleeding. Even if it meant dying. 

Damian would lose all respect for them one day. When he learned what Grandfather’s true intentions were. When he went to live with his father and discovered what family was.

Over the years Damian managed to acquire new scars, some which he was proud of and some he hid in shame. He got them during training, during fights in which he emerged victorious and in those that he didn't. He had scars from when people tried to kill him - his teachers and rogue assassins alike - but he was still alive. He was still the one left standing at the end of the day. 

Mother was proud - she had told him so herself. Grandfather had been coming to watch more of his battles even though he was a busy man. Damian made sure he put in extra work whenever he was around. To prove to him that he deserved a place in the family. 

He told himself that every night he lay in his massive bed staring up at the ceiling until his eyes started to hurt. He didn't sleep well, but Damian was more than used to that by now and it was nothing he couldn't handle. He didn't let it get in the way of his training, or fights because that was weak. And he was an al Ghul, he wasn't weak - wasn't allowed to be. 

His worst scar to date was the one on his abdomen. It was deep and neither was it bad compared to his other ones, but the meaning and disappointment behind it made it the worst one he had ever gotten. 

Damian stared at the cut that stretched across his abdomen. He had taken the bandages off just this morning to reveal the grotesque scar underneath it. He'd gotten it during training; he had been too slow to dodge the sword when it had come at him. His teacher had stared at him as he lay there with gritted teeth clutching his throbbing abdomen as he bled out on the floor. 

The words "You have disappointed me" kept replaying in his mind. He should have been able to dodge that strike. He shouldn't have gotten hurt after all the training that he had been through. It was weak; he had been weak. 

Damian stared at his reflection in the mirror; at the cut that seemed to be taunting him. He had been weak, but no longer. He would train more, would push himself to get better every day until he receives results. He would do everything to make sure that no one was ever disappointed in him ever again. 

Mother had been disappointed when he had been deemed fit enough - not necessarily completely healed - to get back to training. She had expected better from him, and Damian had felt the shame grow. 

But nothing compared to the cold, hard eyes that Grandfather turned on him. He had expected the universe from Damian, from the boy who would become his heir. And Damian had failed him. To be bested during training when all he had ever been raised to do was become the perfect warrior. 

To become the perfect soldier. 

Damian stared at the ceiling of his bedroom now as he lay awake in the darkness. Considered all that had gone wrong during his training that day and tried to come up with ways that he could have avoided the sword. Could have avoided getting hurt. 

Nothing seemed to come to mind, no matter how hard he tried to analyse the situation. Instead, his eyes started tearing up, and he hated himself for crying. He curled up in the cold bed and thought of all the reasons that he shouldn't be crying. Thought about how Mother had always told him that it was only the weak who cried since they were pathetic. Thought about how Grandfather wouldn't accept him as an al Ghul if he could see Damian right now. 

Damian didn't care though. At this moment, there was no one with him - there would be no one with him, not until the sun came up. So, he pushed aside whatever his Mother had taught him, and all the things that Grandfather expected of him and he cried in the silence of his bedroom. 

He didn't want to be an al Ghul anymore. He didn't want to be here anymore. He didn't want to be alone. 

**Author's Note:**

> It's my first time writing something for whumptober, so let me hear your thoughts!!


End file.
